beccari



e. BECCARI. APPARATUS FOR WORKING GARBAGE AND REFUSE 0F TOWNS APPLICATION FILED FEB. I, 1922 Reissued J uly 25, 1922. 1 5,41 7.

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A L i i 2/ 75 4 WITNESS INVENTOR GiuseT: Beccar'l,

ATTORNEY.

G. BECCARI. APPARATUS FOR WORKING GARBAGE AND REFUSE 0F TOWNS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 3,1922.

Reissued J 111 y 25, 1922.

UNITED STATES GIUSEPPE BECCARI, OF FLORENCE. ITALY. ASSIGNOR TO SOGIETA ANONIMA BREVETTI PATENT OFFICE.

IBECCARI, OF FLORENCE, ITALY, AN ASSOCIATION.

APPARATUS FOR WORKING GARBAGE AND REFUSE OF TOWNS.

Original No. 1,329,105, dated January 27, 1920. Serial No.. 85,567, filed March 21, 1916.

reissue filed February 1, 1922.

To all 11 h om it may concern Be it known that I, Gii'snrrn Recount. a subject of the King of Italy. residing at Florence. Italy. have invented new and use ful Improvements in Apparatus for Yorking Garbage and Refuse of Towns. of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a process of working garbage and refuse of towns. The object of the invention is to establish a succession of steps. whereby the refuse of towns will be deprived of dangerous micro-orga nisms. of stinking gases and of such chemicals are are very useful in agriculture.

A further object of the invention is to use the cleaned mass burning material. by previously composing the sameinto cakes in combination with adhesive and burning materiai.

With these objects in view. the invention is necessarily connected to a form of apparatus. and. therefore. it will be understood with reference to the annexed drawings in which:

Figure l is a front elevation of part of the apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line A-B of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through part of the apparatus on line (TD. Fig. 2:

Fig. 4: represents a small tower or chimney for the top of the main apparatus in vertical section; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail view of part of one of the horizontal perforated diaphragms and one of the vertical plates associated therewith. the same being shown in perspective and broken away.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive. it will be observed that the apparatus consists primarily of a rather high building or tower of masonry having a number of fermentation chambers of convenient shape and dimensions formed therein. At the bottom of each chamber, an inclined grating a is provided and it has a sub-passage b, to which it is open and which serves to supply air in copious quantity thereto and which also serves for the discharge of the fermented substances and permits access to the bottom of the chamber for the purpose of superintending the working of the apparatus. The tower is divided into several compartments by mouldings -cZ'- which. besides Specification of Reissucd Letters Patent.

Application for Serial No. 533,422.

imparting greater solidity to the walls. are influential in causing the air to be dispersed laterally as will appear. The air. passing beneath such mouldings. comes from the aeration openings g of the conduits e which open into the upper part -fof the tower. and which are situated at the four corners of the latter. and from a central conduit -i-. i

In one of the exterior walls of the tower. a main discharging door 0 and other smaller doors 0' for observation and examination purposes are provided.

Close under the roof of each chamber there are ararnged heat-collectors h, preferably in the form of serpentine pipes filled with water in order to utilize the heat produced by fermentation. which heat may serve both to dry the products already worked and for other purposes. such as to provide hot water for baths. lavatories. steam-boilers. or the like.

At the upper end of each chamber, there is provided a filling opening Z (normally closed by any suitable elosurenot shown) which permits the introduction of the refuse. the lower part of the chamber having. as has already been pointed out, a discharging door 0. Near the roof of the chamber horizontal metal tubes at are placed and constitute radiators or condensers of the aqueous vapor. in order to bring about a kind of self-watering of the fermented mass.

The several fermentation chambers, which are connected in series, may be provided individually, at their tops, as shown in Fig. 4. with small towers or chimneys for the fixation of the gaseous ammoniacal compounds evolved by fermentation.

These small towers may be of varied structure and dimensions. Fig. 4 simply represents an example thereof. As will be seen. each small tower has its lower part in com munication with the empty space of the underlying chamber through the medium of the upwardly projecting conduits In its interior, each small tower is provided with horizontal, perforated diaphragms 0. through which pass plates p which form drip-plates for liquids which condense above. so that they may drip down from diaphragm to diaphragm. This feature of the construction is shown clearly in Fig. 5.

In addition to this, the diaphragrns are provided with staggered holes 9. which will impart to the gaseous current a serpentine course, as is indicated by the arrows in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

The fermentation chambers of plants em ployed for purposes of agriculture and for towns and places where the price of land is moderate may be greatly reduced in depth. as compared with those shown in the annexed drawings. whereas the ground-plan of the chambers should be more extensive in area. Such chambers will be supplied with gratings. almost flush with the ground. but they will not be provided with sub-passages. and the discharge will be effected through the doors.

Having thus described the fermentation chambers. the manner of proceeding in order to obtain the desired economic aud hygienic results will now be specified.

The manure or refuse from the town is conveyed. by means of a hand-cart. wheelbarrow. lift. or any other suitable means. onto the roof of the tower. which may be so arranged as to form a platform. After the closures of the openings of the chambers have been opened. the refuse is introduced into the empty spaces of said chambers and sprinkled with water or sewage. after having been deposited in layers. and it may be strewn with alkaline powders. or such as are both alkaline and earthy (ashes. carbonate of sodium. carbonate of calcium. etc.) in order to afford the bases for nitrification. After the introduction of these substances the chambers are closed.

Owing to the air which has access to it from underneath the grating and from the conduits and small channels. the manure or rubbish introduced begins to ferment. Very soon the temperature of the mass contained in this space which though closed is still accessible to airits outlet means it being quite diminutive relative to its inlet or open' ing to subchamber b. so that no appreciable amount of heat escapes) rises to between 60 and TO centigrade. This temperature is the most favorable to the development of the micro-organisms apt to cause the transfon mation of the nitrogenous and hydrocarbonaceous substances. while. at this temperature. the bacteria of dentrification. the typhoid bacillus. the vibrio of Asiatic cholera. the stretococcus. the staphylococcus pyogenes and likewise the diplococcus of pneumonic and the bacilli of diptheria. of influenza. of tetanus. etc.. do not live in a moist and steamy environment.

The degree of moisture of the mass may easily be regulated by means of the waterings effected during the first twenty days of fermentation with pumps or ordinary watering utensils. mentation is made to proceed regularly and uniformly throughout, thus imparting In the chambers the ferhomogeneity to the entire mass. and after forty or fifty days. at the latest. the fermentation is complete.

In order that the volatile ammoniacal compounds produced during these processes of oxidation may not pass off into the air and contaminate it. and to obviate losses of com bined nitrogen. they are made to pass first of all into the small tower or serpentine chimney already described (Fig. at) 1 on their way these gases pass over the diaphragms o and over the plates 11. etc.. upon which are located substances which react in connection with the ammoniacal gases. These sunstances are: sulfate of iron. superphosphates. plaster moistened with solutions of sulfuric or hydrochloric acid or any compound suitable for producing the saliiication of. or giving stability to. the carbonate and sulfid of ammonia produced by the fermenting mass. Vegetable earth may also be placed in the small tower. In this case the ammoniacal nitrogen is fixed to the bases contained in the earth by the bacteria of nitrification.

The fermented matter may be used directly for manure in agriculture and may likewise be employed for fuel in substitution for cakes of peat. lignite. etc. In this case. before being formed into cakes. it should be sifted and washed in tanks containing water. After this. it should be dried and mixed with coal-dust and grit and then pressed into cakes. which. when dry. are used for fuel. From the concentrated rinsings and from the earthy substances drawn off. the nitroazotic substances which may be employed in agriculture or in various industries. may be extracted.

It will be observed that given a chamber having an opening for admisssion of air and also an outlet for delivery of gaseous content. at a higher elevation than such opening. the chamber being otherwise closed and adapted to receive the mass to be fermented between said opening and outlet. I form the air-admission opening commodious and the outlet diminutive relatively thereto. whereby a copious supply of air for carrying on of the fermentation may have access to the substance being treated and practically none of its oxygen can escape without undergoing chemical combination and a substantially negligible part of the heat developed is dissipated into the atmosphere; and I form the air-admission opening large relatively to the chamber and combine with the chamber means for conducting air upwardly. as a part of the air admitted thereto. and delivering the thus-conducted air at one or more levels into the chamber between said opening and the gas outlet. the advantage of which combination is that in addition to the air being supplied in copious quantity to substantially the whole bottom thereof it is also supplied to the mass at one or more higher levels and so each corresponding stratum receives its air first-hand without possibility of the gases contained in the chamber escaping otherwise than at the gas-delivery outlet, where they may be controlled in some such way as I have ex lained.

urther that given a chamber having an opening for admission of air and also an outlet for delivery of gaseous content at a higher elevation than such opening and being adapted to receive the mass to be fermented between said opening and'outlet, I rovide such a chamber with a baflie, such as t e moulding d, extending across the mass-receiving portion of the chamber and means to admit air beneath and close to the baffle; the baifie re-- sults in practice in the formation below it and between it and the mass, when the material of the latter is deposited in the chamber, of a space, or at least less density of the mass than elsewhere, and when said means admits the air at the point stated, as at g, the air tends to proceed in the direction of least resistance (arrows, Fig. 2), i. e., laterally through said space or sort of conduit which the mass forms with the baffie under the latter, andin that way a desirable diffusionof the air results, so that the mass is in zones, as it were, bathed thereby.

Having thus described the invention, what it is desired to claim and to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A fermentation chamber having an opening for admission of air and an outlet for dellver of gaseous content at a higher elevation t an said 0 ening, said chamber being otherwise normally closed and adapted to receive the mass to be fermented between said openin and outlet and said openin being commo ions for copious su ply 0 air and the outlet so diminutive relatively to said opening as to allow a restricted amount of gas, only, generated in the chamber to escape.

12. A fermentation chamber having an openin for admission of air and an outlet for delivery of gaseous content at a higher elevation than said opening, said chamber being-otherwise normally closed and adapted to receive the mass to be fermented between said opening and outlet and said openin being commodious for copious supply 0 air and the outlet so diminutive relatively to said openin as to allow a restricted amount of gas, on y, generated in the chamber to escape and means for conducting air upwardly an delivering the thus-conducted air into the chamber between said opening and outlet.

3. A fermentation chamber having an openin for admission of air and an outlet for delivery of gaseous content at a higher elevation than said opening and being adapted to receive the mass to be fermented between said opening and outlet, a bafile ex tending across the mass-receiving portion of said chamber, and means to admit air beneath and close to said baffle.

4. A fermentation chamber having an opening for admission of air and an outlet for delivery of gaseous content at a higher elevation than 7 said opening and being adapted to receive the mass to be fermented between said opening and outlet, a baflie extending around and pro'ecting into the massreceiving portion of sai chamber, and means to admit air beneath and close to the baflle.

5. A hollow structure including a fermentation chamber and above and communicatmentation chamber and a vapor cooling means arranged within said structure in the course of the vapors rising from the fermenting mass therein.

7. A manure and refuse fermentation apparatus comprising a building structure having a chamber therein for the reception of the material to be subjected to fermentation, a tower surmounting the said structure and being in communication with the top of the chamber, horizontal diaphragms positioned in the said tower and adapted to support substances for the fixation of the gaseous products from the chamber passing through the tower, and depending drip plates supported by each diaphragm.

8. A manure and refuse fermentation ap paratus comprising a buildin structure having a chamber therein for t e reception of the material to be subjected to fermentation, and a radiator formed by a, series of tubes disposed in the top part of the cham ber and adapted to have comparatively cold fluid ass therethrough. I

9. En apparatus for working garbage and refuse of towns, comprising a closed chamber to receive said material, a charging door at the top and a discharging door near the bottom of saidchamber, a gratin at .the floor of said chamberfor access 0 air, air pipes extending vertically throughout said chamber, openings in said ipes to admit air at different levels of said chamber, and inspection and controlling openings at different levels of the walls of said chamber.

10. An apparatus for working garbage and refuse of towns, comprising a closed chamber to receive said material, a charging door at the top and a discharging door at the bottom of said chamber, a grating at the floor of said chamber for access of air, inspecting and working holes at different levels in the walls of said chamber, and serpentine water-pipes arranged at the top of said chamber.

11. An apparatus for working garbage chamber to receive said material, a charging door at the top and a discharging door near the bottom of said chamber, agratin at the bottom of said chamber for aocess 0 air, a tower at the top-of said chamber with staggered compartments supporting a substance to receive and fix ammonia openings "at the bottom of said tower sett' its interior in communication with said 0 am- 10 her, and a chimney-piece at the top of said tower to discharge worked gases into the open air.

' In testimony whereofl aflix my signature.

Don. GIUSEPPE BECCARI.

Certificate of Correction.

It is hereby certified that in Reissue Letters Patent No. 15.417, grunt/ed July 1922. upon the application of Giuseppe Beccari, of Florence, Italy, for an improvement in Apparatus for Working Garbage and Refuse of Towns, errors appear in the printed spe 'ifieation requiring eorreetion as follows: Page 2, line 26,

after the Word openings insert the reference numeral l; same page, line 105,

after the word that insert a roinnia, and line 111, after the Word outlet strike out the period and insert a comma; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the ease in the Patent ()fiice.

Signed and sealed this 29th day of August, A. D., 1922.

[am] KARL FENNING,

Acting Uoflwnisa'iower of Patents. 

